Marie Hildebrandt

Marie Hildebrandt, 72, of Sandusky (Perkins Township) passed away on Sunday, February 27, 2022, after a three-month battle with cancer.

Marie was born on July 31, 1949, in Cedarhurst, New York, one of the “Five Towns” on the south shore of Long Island near JFK Airport, to Theresa (Tessie) and Ben Martilotta.

She graduated from Lawrence High School in 1967, where she was editor of the class yearbook. She was inspired to a career in journalism while in high school after she talked her way into a meeting with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Harrison Salisbury of the New York Times. They continued to correspond for many years.

Marie graduated from the Ohio University School of Journalism in 1971 and came to Sandusky three months later to work for the Sandusky Register. Her first assignment was the education beat, but soon after was assigned to cover police and fire. She was the first female in the paper’s history to work the police and fire beat.

In 1973, she was promoted to city hall reporter. In 1975, at the suggestion of then publisher Norm Rau, she began writing an occasional column on what was going on in local government, particularly in the city of Sandusky. “On the Inside,” debuted on January 15, 1975, and ran until 1980, a total of 118 columns.

She wrote several investigative series, including one on slum housing in Sandusky, which won Ohio Newspaper Association awards.

In 1980, Marie left the Register to pursue a free-lance writing career and to spend more time with her two-year-old twin sons. She specialized in economic issues, including travel and tourism. For several years, she wrote the region’s leading tourism publication, “Buckeye North.” She also wrote part time for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and other publications.

In 2006, at the request of Register publisher Doug Phares, she restarted her column, this time with a change in focus to include Erie County and move beyond politics and government. Her new column ran 65 times over the next four years. A collection of her columns, titled “According to Marie,” was published in 2010.

Marie was an Erie County Master Gardner, a member of the first graduating class in 2000. Marie loved gardening. For more than a decade she contributed regularly to the Register’s “Let’s Get Growing” series on gardening.

In 1989, she ran for Perkins Township trustee and was elected to the first of three four-year terms, a period of tremendous growth for the township. She served for two years as chairperson of the Erie Regional Planning Commission. Marie retired from public service in 2003, believing it was time for new blood and a fresh perspective in the township.

In October, 2021, she was appointed to the board of the newly formed Erie County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board by the Erie County Commission.

She was co-author, with her husband, John, of “Lake Erie’s Shores and Islands,” a history of the tourism industry in the western region of Lake Erie, published by Arcadia in 2015.

For seven years Marie worked as a makeup artist during Cedar Point’s Halloween event.

Marie is survived by her husband of 47 years, John Hildebrandt; two sons, Michael (Kyong) of Los Angeles and Tom, (Robyn) New York City; and four grandchildren (Hadley, Benjamin, Sonnet and Beckett).

She is survived by her sister, Terry Gabriel (East Greenbush, NY), a brother, Benjamin Martilotta, of Pennsylvania Furnace, PA, and nieces and nephews: Cara Gabriel, Stacey Martilotta, Camille Martilotta, and Nick Gabriel.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin and Theresa Martilotta.

Direct, original, forceful, intensely loyal, Marie was a person of great moral courage. She loved her family and her friends, gardening, local politics, 9 holes of golf, making “sauce,” and scratch offs.

Her childhood nickname was “ReeRee,” or “Ree” for short, which she carried through her adult life, even with her own children and grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Erie County Community Foundation, which is setting up the Marie Hildebrandt Horticulture Fund. Marie’s fund will provide scholarship support for Erie County students who plan to pursue careers in horticulture, as well as projects that enhance the natural beauty of Erie County.

A celebration of Marie’s life will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 12, at Plum Brook Country Club. Groff Funeral Homes & Crematory is assisting the family.